It’s true, video games do affect how its players live their lives, but it may not be just quite how the media portrays its effects. Many parents believe that the violent games their kids are playing is causing a negative effect on their child, research contradicts this. Many studies have found that there is a huge positive side of playing video games. How Games Make Kids Smarter, a Ted Talk by Gabe Zichermann, tells the listener a story of how using educational based games in the classroom increased the students’ scores as well as their interest in school. Another study done by Stewart Trost, Deborah Sundal, and Gary Foster shows how active video games actually help lower obesity as well as increase activity rates within the tested children. …show more content…
“How Games Make Kids Smarter” a Ted-Talk by Gabe Zichermann, is a perfect example of the advantages that video games offer towards students. The Ted-Talk focussed on how educational video games are being used within a classroom setting, the results were very impressive. A below average 3rd grade class was offered a different way of learning, video games. Zichermann speaks clearly about the attention span of a student with traditional learning style versus the video game based learning, it was a dramatic increase. Many of the students believed that school was more fun learning this way and were excited to attend school. Within the 18 weeks that the students were using this video game based learning, the below average 3rd graders were now reading at a 5th grade level. Zichermann believes this way of learning is the future of teaching. “Many schools have already moved towards a more technology based learning, with schools offering computers for students as well as other devices, this is only the start of the future.” Zichermann says. Video games are the future of the classroom and can really make a difference, they increase attention span, make learning enjoyable, and overall can help the development of …show more content…
“How Video Games Affect the Brain” By Hannah Nichols talks about the role video games play in the player’s everyday life. This article focuses on the fact that video games are constantly changing our brains as well as the way we think. Nichols explains how specific brain regions are actually much more efficient in gamers when compared to people who regularly do not play video games. “Playing video games increases the size and competence of parts of the brain responsible for visuospatial skills.” Said Nicholas. This means that people who are playing video games regularly, are actually increasing their spatial pattern recognition as well as identifying visual cues, something a non-gamer would have little to no practice doing. A study done by the University of California-San Francisco shows that puzzle and other strategic games can be very beneficial in the player’s memory and actually, “Stimulate meaningful and lasting changes.” Said the scientists at the University of California-San Francisco. These students also did a study on the aging brain and how video games affect it. They set up a game where the player was supposed to drive around a race track, but look and react to a certain sign. Studies showed that as the player’s age increase, theirs scores decreased. This however was reversible, players aging from 60 to 80, after just 12
Video games do not make us more intelligent. They may however, make us more prone to violence and sex. Video games are preventing us from screening out distractions and making thinking deeply a difficult task. Our brains become overwhelmed when multitasking. Moreover, Johnson states “... a modern video game can take forty hours to complete”. Forty hours keep kids from homework and as Rachael Rettner states in livescience, “The results show that boys given a PlayStation II are slower to progress in their reading and writing skills and have more learning problems reported by their teachers than those not given a system”. The sole reason studies come back positive for video games being productive is due to the fact that they test a regular video gamer with a non-gamer. Regular video gamers will do better in the study because the more they play, the better they get. Not many realize the effect of these “fully realized imaginary worlds”, it is making it harder for people to differentiate their virtual life with their real
AsapSCIENCE. “Can Video Games Make You Smarter?” Youtube. 10 January 2014. Web. 1 May 2014.
There have been so many experiments and studies to try and figure out if video games have a negative or positive effect on our children. A growing body of research is linking violent video game play to aggressive cognitive, attitudes and behaviors (D.A. Gentile, 2004). The 'Path of the 'Path of the 'Path of the 'Path of the 'Path of the 'Path of the 'Path of the 'Path of Video games can obviously be dangerous for our children, causing aggression, bad performances in school and obesity. Although we cant blame all of these problems on the use of video games, there have been many studies to prove so.... ...
Studies have shown that there is a wide variety of physical and behavioral effects that video games can have on their players.
Presently, video games aren’t merely toys that negatively influence the youth. They have become an alternative means for people to learn and train for work. Games teach values and essential information, and motivate its players to achieve goals. Soldiers and doctors benefit from video games as well. The collaboration of game developers and educators helps improve the quality of educational games. At present, as technology progresses, one can truly see that video games have become an important factor in learning.
Brian Little, an award-winning psychology professor explains the science behind personalities in his Ted talk, “ Brian Little: Who are you really? The puzzle of personality.” He is a professor at Cambridge University and his students often describe him as, “A cross between Robin Williams and Einstein.” Brian wrote the book Me, Myself, and Us: The Science of Personality and the Art of Well-Being. Brian uses his degree in psychology and the acronym OCEAN to explain the different characteristics of personalities in his TED talk, “Brian Little: Who are you really? The puzzle of personality.” In his Ted talk, Brian describes how the acronym OCEAN applies to the science of personality. He says, “ So “O” stands for “open to experience” versus those
Video games are no longer the uprising form of media that ill informed parents and scientists used to fear; video games are now an established form of entertainment that is just as universally accepted as film or literature. The difference between videogames and mediums like film and literature is that they do not have the higher value that books have in exercising the mind and communicating information, nor do they have the value that films have to intellectually challenge an audience and to make people think. This is the general argument that can be heard voiced by leading intellectuals in various field as well as parents who are rising young children; both claim that videogames
Some parents argue that these video games have positive impact on their children's life. They become more skilled. They learn strategies to win the game. Once they lose, they discuss ways in which they could have played better. As such, these video games help children to think and react quickly. They help them to plan their moves. In short, these games help the players to become better strategists. They develop thinking skills. Other argue that those children are good achiever at school who are familiar to these video games Another counter argument is that parents allow their children to play video games to relive anger and relax their body. Children become independent and confident make them busy and parents also do their work peacefully.
There have been several studies conducted on learning and serious games, for example, a recent study by the Office of Naval Research found that video game players performed ten to twenty percent better in perceptual and cognitive ability than non-game players, and that video games helped adults process information faster(Steinberg,2012). Another study by the Federation of American Scientists found that students re...
Many people believe that video games change people and mislead them to do bad things, such as drugs and alcohol, but it is the opposite. Gaming prevents people from such acts and actually helps to keep them away from the substances. Lots of people, mainly parents, believe that video games harm people so they try to keep their children away from them. In reality, video games make your life better. Video games can provide many benefits to your lifestyle as “numerous academic studies indicate that playing video games has many psychological and even physical benefits” (Guarini). Gaming helps stimulate the brain and advances your problem solving abilities. There are disadvantages to gaming, which is true, but the amount of benefits outweigh them by far.
There are several negative stereotypes associated with video games and those who play them; some of these may often hold true. However, there are plenty of learning opportunities in video games. While the direct purpose of some games is to educate or train, other games that do not directly have this purpose can still become a learning experience for the player. As Ntiedo Etuk, president of the educational video game company Tabula Digital said, “The traditional view of video games has been that they are distractions from the task of learning” (Electronic Education Report 1). Video games are an effective tool for learning and retaining skills both inside and outside the classroom environment. The basic cycle of game play--the introduction to the game, game play, collaboration, improvement of these between each round, and evaluation at the end of the game (Klievink and Janssen 159)--are nearly parallel to the traditional classroom learning cycle of reading a textbook or listening to a lecture, taking a quiz, studying, focusing on items missed on the quiz, and taking a test or exam. Within this cycle, there are many opportunities to develop and perfect both educational, life, and occupational skills.
Nowadays, video games are frequently accused of having detrimental effects on children and adolescents. The main arguments against video games are that they lead to addiction, that they provoke violence, and that they impair social development. Whether or not such claims are true has not been determined with certainty as scientific studies have produced contradictory results. Nevertheless, video games also have beneficial effects, which tend to be underrated, as they do not receive the same level of media coverage that adverse ones do, and are thus unknown to the general public. Some of the positive effects of playing video games on mental development include: stimulating analytical thinking, improving concentration, and encouraging planning and anticipation (“Video game controversies”).
Video games have been argued about for decades. Some people have argued that video games are linked to violence. However, new research shows that video games can be used for therapeutic purposes, exercise, stress relievers, positive interactive learning, hand eye coordination, and different types of patient treatment for people all around the world.
Video games have both good and effects, but bad effects were greater. Limiting the time of playing video games and choosing the right type are the solutions of the elimination of bad effects on children. Thus, moderation between playing video games and playing sports or doing extracellular activities will benefit the child. Another important point would be avoiding violent video games because they influence children’s behavior in an aggressive way.
Video game play can have both positive and negative effects on children and adolescents, and adults should seek to minimize the negative effects while maximizing the positive effects by staying informed about games and establishing rules about the amount and type of video game play.